Ever since Apple wrapped up its WWDC 2020 keynote, there has been a lot of interest

around Johny Srouji, the company’s senior vice-president of hardware technologies. Srouji is
leading Apple’s chip development efforts and he has an important role to play in creating the
Apple-designed, ARM-based chips for Mac computers. Srouji may not be as visible as other
Apple executives, but his contribution to Apple’s growth is immense. Here are a few facts
about Johny Srouji, the man behind Apple’s custom A-series chips found in iPhones and
iPads, and someone who you could be hearing a lot more about in the coming years.
#1 Born in a Christian Arab family, Srouji belongs to the city of Haifa in Israel. He earned a
master’s degree in Computer Science from Technion Israel Institute of Technology,
considered among the best engineering colleges in the world. Srouji is fluent in Arabic,
Hebrew, and French. He can speak English, too.

The pandemic lockdown in India has unlocked new consumer behaviours that will impact
online retail and be pivoted around the smartphone, Facebook India and Boston Consulting
Group’s industry report on Mobile Phones, FMCG, and Apparel has shown. In the mobile
segment, there is a clear trend towards larger digitisation of purchases and experiences, the
study found.
With the mobile phone becoming more essential in the daily lives of consumers, 38 per cent
respondents suggested that they will spend more on the category in the coming months.
However, the decreased spending power prompted 29 per cent to say they will cut spends on
phones and maybe opt for a cheaper variant.
The study also found that as consumers were triggered to replace their existing phones, at
least “70 per cent of urban consumers for mobiles expected to be digitally influenced”, up
from a high of 60 per cent before. Social distancing will also make more of them opt for
online research before a purchase, even as the “importance of pricing as a choice driver to go
up” by around 25 per cent in what is already a value-conscious market. Even among those
looking to increase spends in the segments, 59 per cent “may trade down in their choice of
purchase/look for offers and deals”.
Srouji joined Apple in 2008 when the first iPhone was already out. He was hired by Bob Mansfield,
Apple’s top hardware executive at the time. Although the iPhone was a massive success, Jobs knew
about the iPhone’s weakness and the only way to fix this problem was to work on a custom chipset
designed in-house. “Steve came to the conclusion that the only way for Apple to really differentiate
and deliver something truly unique and truly great, you have to own your own silicon,” Srouji told
Bloomberg Businessweek in 2016. “You have to control and own it.”

#4 In the beginning, Srouji served as senior director of handheld chips and VLSI (Very-large-
scale integration). It was an important position within Apple — after all, he was involved in
the development of the A4 chipset. Prior to joining Apple, he worked on processor
development and design at Intel and IBM.
#5 Not many know that Srouji was involved in creating the first Touch ID fingerprint sensor
that Apple first incorporated in the iPhone 5s in 2013, according to Israeli publication
Haaretz.

#10 Although there is no clarity, Srouji might have played an important role in Apple’s acquisition of
Intel’s smartphone modem business, which the company bought for $1 billion. When Cupertino
issued the press release announcing the acquisition, Srouji said Apple is excited to have Intel’s
“excellent engineers” joining its cellular technologies group. Just to make it clear, Srouji is
responsible for custom silicon and hardware technologies including application processors, storage
controllers, touch and sensors, display silicon and connectivity at Apple.